Bowling

Twelve bowlers and five spectators showed up at a local bowling alley on Tuesday to help Jacob observe his 15th birthday. Despite a few, um, fairly low scores, everyone had a fab time. (And some people actually did quite well.) I just love the automatic scorekeepers that are now standard at all bowling establishments. I only wish they would have had those back when I was on a league!

Steve, Jacob, and Muffin prepared to roll a frame.

There was a lot of smart-alecky hugging going on - especially between Jacob and Adam.

Soon others joined in on the hugging thing and numerous group hugs ensued.

On the Go

We have been as busy as bees this past week preparing for, and then celebrating, Christmas. All of our hard work paid off handsomely, as our holiday ended up being tons of fun. Jim has been in Michigan for ten days now, and Adam showed up at our doorstep on Friday morning just as we were all waking up to get Jacob off to his last day of school in 2011. Adam's solo drive from Colorado was filled with one obstacle after another, including some inevitable snow squalls and a stop by an over-ambitious Iowa state trooper, who asked him to unzip his snowboard bag to prove that it did not contain a gun. Adam was let go by the officer with a "warning" for going 3 miles per hour over the speed limit. Whoa - slow down, Speed Racer!

Tomorrow is Jacob's 15th birthday and the plan is to meet up with a group of family & friends at a local bowling alley for some fun on the lanes. The rest of the week will be filled with more parties, get-togethers, and general end-of-the-year hoopla. Then it will be on to Texas for some southern-style delight before returning to the old grind in January. Giddyup!

More Birthdays and Such

This afternoon we gathered at Richie's house to celebrate the birthdays of Richie and Jacob. Jake does not officially turn 15 until the 27th, but seeing as the next few weekends are both kind of busy, we had his party today. Everyone ate KFC, cake, & ice cream, and had a grand time. Jake received a few of his presents, but Jim & I saved most of them to give him on his actual birthday. It is certainly a gift-filled time of year for him. He opened a few packages at the bash, will get more loot on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then will get the rest of his birthday presents next week. For Jacob, it really is the most wonderful time of the year!

The almost-birthday boy.

Richie holding a gift card and some empty candy wrappers.

Last, but not least, a shot of Adam at his party two weeks ago.

Chicago

For the past couple of weeks, Nancy's son, Steve, has been working in Texas and Arkansas. He is employed by a land surveying company that is based in Michigan, but has contracts all over the U.S. When he flew off to Dallas, he brought clothes with him appropriate for working outdoors in southern weather. To his surprise, Steve was informed last Thursday that he was needed at a job site in Wisconsin on Sunday. Yes, Wisconsin. Land of cheese and cold.

Since Steve would be driving a company vehicle from Texas to Wisconsin, he would be passing through Illinois. Nancy and I came up with the idea to rendezvous with Steve west of Chicago to pass on his much-needed winter surveying clothing to him. How nice of us, right? Our ulterior motive, however, was to spend the weekend shopping and playing tourist in the Windy City. We did just that.

When we arrived in town, Jacob, Nancy, and I stopped at the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and spent an hour or so at the Skydeck on the 103rd floor. The weather could not have been more cooperative and we could see for what seemed like forever. We ate lunch there, then headed to the "Magnificent Mile" to shop. I cannot remember ever seeing so many pedestrians out and about in freezing cold temperatures happily walking around their city. The downtown Christmas decorations were beautiful and the atmosphere was indeed festive. By the time we were done shopping, it was evening so Jacob, Nancy, and I jumped back into the car to drive to our suburban hotel. Apparently, many of those other holiday shoppers decided to depart the city at the same time because the freeways were at a total standstill. Armed with a map of Chicagoland (that is what the locals call the area, I did not just make that up), the three of us successfully maneuvered our way 30 miles from Lake Michigan to the western suburb of Shaumburg via city streets. After checking into our hotel, we ventured out to purchase a carry-out pizza from the world-famous Uno. We completely stuffed ourselves, watched some TV, and fell asleep.

On Sunday morning, we were all up bright and early, and grabbed a quick breakfast from the hotel lobby. We had arranged to meet Steve in Rockford at 9:00 a.m. for the clothing hand-off and everything went well with that. Later, Jacob, Nancy, and I swung by the largest mall in Illinois - Woodfield Mall - and did a little more shopping. We were on the road again by 2:00 p.m. and back at the condo Sunday evening. What a great, impromptu weekend trip!

Birthdays and Such

Adam showed up in Michigan on his birthday after spending most of the day in the air, plus a few unexpected hours on the ground in Tokyo when the baggage-compartment-loading-contraption on his 747 malfunctioned. He was supposed to arrive from Singapore last Wednesday in time to go to dinner with a group of us, including the other birthday person, Nancy, but his flight was delayed too long. He finally winged into town around 9:00 p.m. - sans one of his suitcases, which was later found in Chicago - and I whipped him up some birthday macaroni and cheese. We did enjoy dinner out on Friday, and Nancy was able to join us for her second restaurant celebration of the week. On Sunday, we had the family birthday party at the condo and everyone had a merry, ol' time.

Adam is now back in Colorado, where it dipped to a bone chilling -4 degrees the other night, and Jim is back in Texas, where the low temperature is predicted to drop into the upper 20s. Adam says while he was on Diego Garcia and in Singapore that he never felt a temperature lower than 74. In fact, the temps usually hovered in the 80s and 90s. I suppose it was a good thing that he spent a few days in Michigan's 30 & 40 degree weather, as that served as a nice buffer between hot Asia and cold Colorado. A 90+ degree temperature change? Nice if you are heading to the warmer climate, but icky to be going from tropical-hot to below-zero conditions. Brrrr!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving this year. I spent the morning peeling, cooking, and mashing potatoes while Nancy toiled over the turkey and stuffing and lots of side dishes. We had a plethora of pies, with cousin Chris actually making some with his own hands! (Definitely not the norm for us!) Yum! The food ended up being delicious and all 25 of us had a wonderful time. We later played one of our most nail-biting games of Taboo ever, with the girls pulling out a last-minute victory and winning by one point!

Adam was still on Diego Garcia on Thanksgiving Day and, apparently, the U.S. military folks put out quite a spread for everyone. Then, as if one huge meal wasn't enough, the British police hosted a shindig on Thursday as well. I believe that they called it a Thanksgiving dinner, even though those silly Brits don't even celebrate the holiday. Adam said that they use any excuse to party out there at their Indian Ocean outpost.

I completely forgot to take any pictures at our bash, but one of Adam's fellow grad students snapped a picture of him. Adam is currently winging his way home from southeast Asia and, after traveling for some 24 hours, he will arrive in Detroit tomorrow evening - his birthday. With all of the time zones he is passing through, and by crossing the international dateline, his birthday this year will last for around 37 hours.

Adam enjoying his second Thanksgiving meal of the day with a British (I think) police officer.

The Accent Wall

Jim, Jacob, and I painted the living/dining room of the condo this week. We have been discussing this for over a year now and were finally - for some unknown reason - motivated enough to tackle the job. The three of us pored over scores of paint swatches and samples until we found the perfect colors. We agreed on a medium brown shade for most of the room, applied a thick coat yesterday, and were very pleased with the result. We then chose a darker brown hue for the wall with our fireplace on it to serve as an "accent wall." Yes, we do occasionally watch HGTV, and, yes, that is where we learned the term "accent wall." (Jim and Jacob have also spent the last few days speaking with cheesy French accents each time I utter the words "accent wall" - as in, "Oui, oui, vee vill paint zee wall madam." So goes my life with wannabe stand-up comics.) We rolled the darker paint onto the fireplace wall this afternoon and waited patiently for it to dry. Nothing quite like watching paint dry. The supposedly darker shade appeared almost identical to the one on the rest of the walls. The paint swatches promised contrast, but there was little to be found. The "accent wall" looks lovely, as do the other walls. I just feel that people will think we ran out of paint or something, hurried back to the store to try to pick a shade similar to the other walls, then mistakenly came home with a color close, but not quite right. It doesn't really look like an "accent wall." It looks more like an "accident wall."

Lessons in Lunging

On Tuesday afternoon, Jacob sent me a text from the school bus that he had just hurt his leg during 6th hour gym class. His physical education course recently switched over from swimming to running and Jacob has come home fairly sore some days. This time seemed more serious, though, so I drove to the bus stop to pick him up. Jacob was in quite a bit of pain when he hobbled into the car. He complained that something had "pulled or popped" in the area of the hamstring on his left thigh. I wondered how he would be able to complete his required running the rest of the week if he really had a significant injury. I decided to call the doctor to see if Jacob could go in to have everything checked out. In the meantime I asked Jacob to describe exactly what had happened, and he replied that the class had done their usual stretches, then gone upstairs to run on the elevated track. After running 10 minutes or so, the teacher told everyone to stop and lunge. Jacob said that the kids all came to a halt and confusedly looked at each other saying, "What's a lunge?" The teacher instructed the class how to lunge, the runners lunged, and Jacob evidently lunged with much gusto because that is when his muscle stretched too far. When he could barely make it up the condo steps, I gave him some ice for his injury, then phoned the doctor's office for some advice. To make a long story short, Jacob's hamstring was not "pulled" but rather was "strained." His treatment consisted of rest, ice, elevation, and ibuprofen. He was given a doctor's note to forgo running in gym on Wednesday so as not to further aggravate the strain. By Thursday he felt a lot better and was able to work out with the class. On Friday Jacob completed his compulsory 12 minute run. I told him to take it easy from now on because each Friday the mandatory running time will be going up by two minutes. He does not need more lunging injuries - or any injuries for that matter - especially with all of the stairs we have to climb at our three-story condo.

Skype

The leaps and bounds that technology has made in the past two decades never cease to amaze me. I was excited to get my first microwave oven in the late 80s. When I bought a computer in the early 90s, it was awesome. I was thrilled when I finally owned a cell phone in the late 90s - it felt just plain crazy to be able to make a call from anywhere I chose. When the internet came along, I was smitten. In love. How did I ever manage without it? This past summer I finally got a data plan for my cell phone. Internet on my phone? It doesn't get much better than that!

Now I Skype, too. I find it astounding to be able to chat with and see someone on my computer when they are actually very far away. Jake and I have had Skype accounts for a year or so. We initially set them up to talk to Jim while he is in Texas and we are in Michigan. We all see each other so frequently, though, that we haven't really used it for that purpose. When we do Skype, it is usually with Adam from his Colorado apartment. Since Adam took off to Diego Garcia last month, we have Skyped with him twice. It still seems miraculous to me that we are able to talk to, and see, Adam live when he is 10,000 miles from here.

I took pictures of Adam while I was chatting with him on my little - and apparently very dirty - netbook the other night. Adam picked up his laptop and walked over to the beach near his DG office so I could check things out.

My screen doesn't do justice to the beauty of Adam's beach and lagoon. Notice the Navy ships anchored off in the distance.

When It Rains, It Pours

A few weeks ago, we discovered a damp spot on the dining room ceiling at our condo. We called our management company to send someone out to check the problem. A construction guy showed up the next day and told us that a sprinkler line appeared to be leaking. He said that he could not work on sprinklers and we would have to notify our management people to arrange for someone from the "fire protection" group to do that. As he walked out the door, he smirked, "Hope your pipe doesn't burst!" A week later, a worker from the "fire protection" firm was finally available to come check our now-dripping ceiling. He cut some holes in the drywall and found that there was no sprinkler line anywhere near the leak. Naturally, he was only authorized to work on sprinklers, so he recommended that we call our management company to arrange for a licensed plumber to repair what seemed to be a dripping pipe. As he walked out the door, he quipped, "Hope your pipe doesn't burst!" Six days later, a plumber came to the condo. He peeked at the leak, declared that the problem originated at an upstairs toilet, and proceeded to fix what he called an improperly-installed commode. I now have a new respect for licensed plumbers because - after one construction worker, one sprinkler man, and two weeks of the management company passing the buck - this guy diagnosed and fixed the problem in about 45 minutes. Jake and I had used the upstairs bathrooms sparingly throughout this whole ordeal, and I can assure you that it is once again nice to be able to go to the restroom during the night without trudging down the stairs.

Believe it or not, the dining room ceiling in the Texas house now also has a leak. The issue down there is a roofing problem which was repaired earlier this year, but apparently was not quite patched up correctly. Jim noticed the drip there after two-and-a-half rare (for this year) inches of rain fell the other day. Hopefully any more precipitation will hold off until a worker can mend the roof.

I really started to worry when the condo ceiling actually started dripping water.

We will have to live a while longer with our hole-y drywall since the wood is slightly damp up there. Things should dry more quickly if we leave the ceiling open.

Pictures from Afar

Adam has finally managed to send some photos from his post in the Indian Ocean. To be fair, he said that the internet connection is slow and it took almost an hour to upload these pictures. The weather certainly looks pleasant out there, which I believe is not in the best interest of the DYNAMO climate study. I'm sure it is making for some delightfully fun days for the scientists, though.

Adam ready to launch a balloon.

This "shipping crate" serves as the DYNAMO office.

The inside of the office appears to be in a state of organized chaos. Notice the cot leaning against the far wall. Apparently it was not nap time when this shot was taken.

A Diego Garcia beach. This one is a hop, skip, and jump from the office.

The exterior of the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites.

Adam's digs as seen from one direction.

The room from another direction. I know Adam has become somewhat of a neat freak lately, but - really - where is his stuff?

Radiosondes and Recreation

Things seem to be going well over on Diego Garcia for Adam and his research partners. The three grad students and their technician have divided up their work days into three shifts. During each shift, a number of weather balloons are launched and then monitored for up to two hours each. The balloons carry an instrument pack called a radiosonde that transmits atmospheric data back to a computer. Once the balloon reaches 80,000 feet or so, it bursts and everything just falls back to earth. I asked Adam how they can be sure that their meteorology junk doesn't interfere with passing planes and he assured me that the radiosonde & balloon are so lightweight that an aircraft would annihilate them on contact. Plus, they do contact air traffic control prior to each launch. Weather balloons are deployed twice each day - every single day - at over 800 locations around the globe, so I suppose if they were problematic to aircraft we would have heard about it by now.

The area where the DYNAMO office is set up on Diego Garcia was previously a "tent city" for troops during the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is empty now except for several work trailers and some probably-high-tech and necessary scientific weather devices. Adam said that curious Navy and Air Force personnel have dropped by to visit, and some friendly military guys gave them a cot for napping during their overnight shifts. (Napping? Are they in kindergarten? Geez, I'm glad they are not the air traffic controllers!) There is a beautiful beach steps away from their work place and Adam said he has gone for a dip or two, maybe between balloon launches? He eats meals at the Officer's Club, cruises around the island in some sort of nice-looking Ford truck, and has even attempted to windsurf. Hopefully some pictures will arrive any day now, as I am looking forward to seeing what this Shangri-la looks like. I'm sure Adam will send some as soon he gets a break from the horribly laborious life he is leading there.

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Around the World

Adam departed his Colorado apartment eight days ago just prior to 6 o'clock in the morning. Twenty-eight hours, three flights, and two continents later, he found himself at a snazzy hotel in Singapore. Adam's stay in southeast Asia was brief, as it was merely the point where he had to rendezvous with a U.S. military aircraft in order to reach his destination of Diego Garcia. He did make the most of his short visit to Singapore, though, by taking a tour of the city. And, thank goodness he knew not to chew gum there because it is against the law and punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. I am assuming that Singapore must be one tidy city!

Adam and his atmospheric science colleagues met up with their transportation to DG - a U.S. Air Force C-17 - on Tuesday afternoon at a Singaporean air base. Apparently, the huge military plane provided an interesting ride. While snapping photos of the outside of the aircraft was prohibited, pictures could be taken inside. Diego Garcia houses a U.S. Navy base that has graciously allowed (or been monetarily compensated to allow?) the DYNAMO climate project to operate from there. Upon arrival on the island, Adam and the others settled into their hotel rooms, then went through some training with the grad students that had already been there for the past month. While chatting with Adam on Skype this afternoon - and our Skype connection was less than perfect; actually it was not very good at all - Jim, Jacob, and I learned more about the research work that is going on in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Adam's weather balloon launches sound quite intriguing and I will post more about them in my next DG update.

Student of the Month

Jacob was recently chosen as one of the "Students of the Month" for October at the high school. Around 60 kids out of 6,300 are given the honor each month. To be eligible, Jacob had to go to class prepared, participate and contribute, treat teachers and peers with respect, etc., etc. We were invited to an early morning ceremony last week where Jacob received a couple of certificates, a hearty handshake from his vice principal, and some enthusiastic applause. And a bagel and juice for breakfast. All in all, it was a nice little reception and we are, of course, very proud of Jacob.

The Maize

On Sunday afternoon the weather was unusually nice in southeast Michigan. Jacob, Nancy, Richie, Jean, Jenna, and I decided to take a trip to a local corn maze. This particular maze is one of the largest and most difficult in the state. In fact, they sell maps in sealed envelopes for $1.00 in case you get hopelessly lost among the corn stalks. If you make it to the exit without opening your envelope, they will refund your $1.00. We walked up & down row after row of corn. We passed the same groups of people over and over again. We probably traveled through the same intersections repeatedly. We contemplated peeking at our map, but resisted the urge. Fifty-five minutes after entering the maze, we triumphantly emerged with our envelopes unopened. We sure were proud to get our map money back.

Jacob sauntered down a path.

Jenna got up close and personal with some stalks.

Lost, but not too worried.

Focused

Jacob had his final 80-question driver's ed test this afternoon. He passed. As soon as class was over, he bounded out of school and hopped into the car. We then zipped over to the Secretary of State office and arrived five minutes before they closed. Luckily, that gave us just enough time to pick up Jacob's learner's permit. (And, oddly, none of the other 21 kids from his class showed up to get their permits today.) Once he was legal, Jacob climbed behind the wheel and, after taking an abnormally long time backing out of our parking space, proceeded to drive us home. He did a great job!

Jacob cruising down Cherry Hill Road.

South of the Equator

This weekend, Adam will be taking off on a five-and-a half week long expedition to the other side of the world. From Denver he will fly to Singapore via San Francisco and Hong Kong. After spending two days in Singapore, he will hop onto a U.S. military aircraft for a six-hour flight to the island of Diego Garcia. Diego Garcia is a small atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean that has no commercial airport, just a U.S. military base. Adam and two other atmospheric science graduate students are going there to participate in a climate research project called "Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation," or DYNAMO. Diego Garcia is tropical, hot, & humid, and appears to be quite scenic. If I can persuade Adam to send me some pictures while he is there, I will post them.

Flea Market Fracas

Last Friday and Saturday, Nancy and I booked a table at the Finnish Center Flea Market to sell some of our old stuff. Nancy had a lot of nice things for sale, I had a few items, and Irma donated several pieces of jewelry. When the doors opened Friday morning, lots of shoppers came pouring into the flea market. Not very many stopped at our table despite the fact that we had awesome items at very reasonable prices. Luckily, Nancy was able to sell some of her pieces of fancy crystal, or we might not have even made enough money to pay the price of our table. After buying lunch for myself, any profit that I earned had disappeared. We looked forward to the next day, as Saturday shoppers typically come in droves and make big purchases.

The next morning, flea market customers were few and far between. Nancy and I walked around a bit and discovered that the lady in charge of the sale had decided to lock the front doors of the Finnish Center for the day. We found a sign outside telling people to use a side door. We were confused. It ends up that a few of the Finnish Center bigwigs had set up flea market tables - free tables, I might add - in a side room and wanted to corral shoppers past their wares before they went into the large, main selling room. The problem, however, was that most customers just tried the front doors, found them locked, and then left. Or, if they did find their way to the side door, they thought that the whole sale was in that small room, and exclaimed, "This is all there is?" I can't tell you how many people walked away. Nancy and I spoke to "Lady-in-Charge" and politely asked her to unlock the front doors. She refused. We talked to her husband, who is an executive on the FC board and who also had a selling table in the side room. He agreed to unlock the doors. "Lady-in-Charge" saw her husband opening the front doors and all hell broke loose. After she screamed at him, she screamed at us. She wanted those doors locked and that was that. There was no reasoning with her and she proceeded to rudely tell everyone that she had the right to make that decision. Word spread through the flea market like wildfire and many vendors were so frustrated with her decision that they vowed never to come back. At the end of the day, the doors stayed locked and we made very little money. If nothing else, though, it was definitely the most interesting flea market in which we had ever participated!

Beware of Student Driver

After waiting 14 years and 9 months, Jacob finally reached the legal age to take driver's education in Michigan. His class began this week and, besides sitting through 8 hours of lessons, he has also driven twice. In an actual car. On real roads. For a total of 120 minutes. Driving has always been one of Jacob's dreams, so, as you can imagine, he is beyond thrilled. His driving instructors - or "coaches," as they are called at this school - say that he has done a great job on the road so far. Hopefully he will keep up the good work because soon they will be taking him on the freeway and letting him accelerate a two-ton vehicle to 70 miles an hour. Jacob has a few more weeks of classroom work and 4 more hours behind the wheel with a "coach" before he earns his learner's permit. I have a feeling that once that happens, I will be sitting in the passenger seat and Jacob will insist on driving everywhere.

East of the Border

My birthday present from Nancy this year was a day-long bus trip to a casino in Canada, just across the St. Clair River from Port Huron. Nancy, Richie, and I met up with the bus early Tuesday morning at the Finnish Center. We were definitely the youngsters on board the coach, surrounded by a crowd of old Finns. We picked up another group of gamblers enroute to Canada, most of them elderly women who apparently felt that wearing massive amounts of perfume would make them appealing or attractive or something. Or maybe they had just become hard-of-smelling in their old age.

The casino was great. It was just the right size - not so big that you got lost, yet not small, either. The place had a nice variety of slots and was pleasantly uncrowded. We all played a long time with the comp money given to us by the casino. We ate lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river. At the end of the day, Nancy and Richie actually won some cash and I was happy to break even.

On our bus ride home we ran into rush hour traffic and rain. Fortunately, the previously overly fragrant ladies had lost most of their scent during the day. We arrived back at the Finnish Center around 6 p.m. and headed home. We all had a fun time and look forward to another casino bus trip in the future.

September Shindig

Yesterday we had the family celebration for those of us with September birthdays. Nancy hosted the bash and everyone had a boatload of fun. The weather was nice so we were able to party both inside and out. All in all, it was a great day!

Julia and Muffin strategically placed the candles on the cakes. Pattye and I were unable to blow out all of our candles in one breath. Laura, on the other hand, was successful.

Lights Out

I was leaving Richie's house the other night and flicked the CRV lights on as I backed out of his driveway. Richie was standing in his garage and I absolutely could not believe it when he waved his arms and told me that my right headlight was not working. Back in May, three head lamps burned out within a week on the CRV. What is going on with that? Jim is flying in from Texas tomorrow so I decided to once again leave the bulb-changing task for him. Hopefully this next headlight will stay lit for more than four months. Oy.

Hay Fever Season

I don't know about anyone else, but my allergies have been on the warpath recently. I was pretty congested when I was in Texas in early August and things did not improve (as I hoped they might) when I arrived back in Michigan a month ago. The congestion, headaches, scratchy throat, goopy eyes, sneezing, and coughing have just gone on and on. I have checked out allergy reports online and discovered that both weed pollen and mold spores have been in the high to very-high range around here. Ugh! My allergies had not been too bad the past few years, so I suspected that maybe I was "outgrowing" them; something my mother told me would happen eventually. Ha - no such luck! Now all I can do is take allergy pills as I wait patiently for the first good freeze that will kill most of the ragweed in southeast Michigan. Hopefully that day will come sooner rather than later this fall. This week would be fine with me.

North of the Border

This past weekend, Jim and I jetted off to Alberta, Canada. Jim's company's headquarters is located in Calgary and the company was throwing a shindig for their "Long Service" employees. (Jim has in 30 years!) We departed Detroit on Friday morning and stopped in Chicago enroute. While at O'Hare Airport, we needed to get from one concourse to another, so we followed signs to the "Gates E & F Shuttle." Both Jim and I were amused to find that in order to reach our connecting gate, we had to schelp our luggage down two flights of stairs in a dingy, concrete stairwell, walk outside to the ramp between two aircraft, and climb into an old van, where we then proceeded to be driven across the the bustling tarmac dodging taxiing planes and speeding luggage carts. We found it difficult to believe that in this day and age, at the world's 4th busiest airport, that there was not some sort of tram or train to whisk us between concourses. Odd. When we finally arrived at our gate, we discovered that our flight would be taking off about an hour late because a tire on the main landing gear of our airplane needed to be replaced. The captain was so chatty, amiable, and friendly that no one even minded the delay. His words of wisdom were, "we'd rather be on the ground wishing we were in the air than in the air wishing we were on the ground." Very true!

Jim and I arrived in Calgary to find much warmer-than-usual temperatures and beautiful blue skies. We spent the remainder of Friday walking around downtown, eating, drinking, and spending a few dollars at the local casino. On Saturday morning, we were signed up for a tour of Banff and had to meet our group at 7:45 a.m. in our hotel lobby. The 8-hour bus trip to the Canadian Rockies was simply wonderful and included numerous sightseeing stops, a gondola ride to the top of a mountain, an amazing lunch, and time for shopping. We arrived back at the hotel with an hour and a half to get ready for the "Awards Dinner" that night. There were company people from all across the U.S. and Canada in town for the weekend and Jim reconnected with some other "Long Service" employees that he hadn't seen in years. All in all, Jim and I had a great time and realized that it has been almost 20 years since the two of us have traveled anywhere without at least one of the boys in tow. Yesterday, Jim flew to Houston and I flew back to Detroit. Our flights were uneventful, which is a good thing considering it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and security was extra tight. The next time we will be eligible to attend the "Long Service Awards Dinner" will be in 2016 when Jim logs in 35 years. I hope he is still with the company then because it sure was a fun couple of days!

At the top of Sulphur Mountain. The little building at the peak above Jim's left shoulder is a weather station. We would have hiked over to it if we had more time.

Jim and I posed near a waterfall in the Rockies.

The town of Banff as seen from the gondola.

Curious Climate

The weather here in Michigan has been downright wacky lately. Our typical high this time of year is in the upper 70s. On Friday I was at Norm's pizzeria and - holy moly - I cannot remember ever feeling so hot. The temperature outside had risen to 99 degrees and the combination of heat, humidity, and 550 degree pizza ovens opening & shutting caused me to sweat more than I ever had before. I was not a pleasant sight.

It cooled off considerably over the weekend, and on Monday the high temps had dropped 30 degrees from Friday's oppressiveness. Yesterday and today, as Jacob walked to the high school bus stop at 6:10 a.m. (Eeew, too early!), it was in the low 50s. Today's high was only 64.

The weather in Texas has cooled off somewhat, too. Well, at least they are having normal highs of 91 or so instead of highs in the 100s. The horrible drought continues there, though, and the forecast does not call for any rain in the near future. The tropical storms this year seem to make landfall to the east and to the southwest of Houston, but never close enough to drop any precipitation at our house. Some of the numerous Texas wildfires have reached the county that neighbors ours and, in my opinion, that is a bit too close for comfort. It is weird that so much of the country is deluged with floodwater, yet the Lone Star State is dry as a bone. What's up with that, anyway?

Slipping Through my Fingers

Last Friday Jacob picked up his 9th grade schedule. Yes, that's right, my baby is starting high school. It was weird enough that my firstborn entered his second year of grad school last week, now my youngest is officially a high school freshman. Where have the years gone?

Anyway, Jacob got a pretty good schedule. Our local high school is huge and is situated on a 305 acre "campus" that includes three large, separate buildings housing over 6,200 students. Five of Jacob's six classes are in the same school, but his fourth hour is in one of the other buildings, which will require him to trudge back and forth outside in all kinds of weather - rain, shine, hot, cold, snow, ice, etc. Adam managed to do that when he was a student there, so no biggie.

School begins next Tuesday and, hopefully, Jacob will not only be successful, but he will somehow be able to enjoy himself, too. Do any teens really love doing schoolwork, though? I doubt it.

Week in Review

Another week has zipped right on by. On Monday morning, Jim, Jacob, and I dropped Adam off at the airport for his return flight to Denver. We then drove to the Detroit Zoo where we met Nancy, Carey, Barb, Abey, and Josh. We all stayed for hours and I am happy to report that a lot of animals were actually up and active, which seems to be an unusual occurrence whenever I visit a zoo. Early Tuesday, I brought Jim to the airport so he could catch a plane back to Houston. Naturally, his flight was delayed, and, as a result, he was late to work. There was also a small earthquake on Tuesday that was felt by lots of people in Michigan, but not by anyone that I know. On Wednesday, there were severe storms around town. Thursday morning, Jake and I had to wake up at 6:10 so he could get to the 9th grade high school orientation at 6:45. In addition, he had his dyslexia tutoring in the afternoon and managed to stay awake despite getting very little sleep the night before. On Friday, we rolled out of bed at 6:30 a.m. in order to get to the high school for Jacob's 7:30 time slot to pick up his fall schedule. (Whose great idea was it, anyway, to make teenagers and their parents rise at such horribly early hours during summer vacation? Bad idea. Yawn.) This afternoon, Jacob, Nancy, Steve, Richie, and I tried our luck at our local 9-hole Disc Golf Course. Steve was the victor and we had a lot of fun until the mosquitoes began swarming us around the 7th hole, forcing us to spend more time swatting them than throwing our frisbees. I talked to Jim a few times today and felt sorry for him in Texas, as the high temperature there reached 109 steaming-hot degrees. Geez. I am now watching the Weather Channel to keep tabs on Hurricane Irene, as we have nine family members in the path of the storm. Hope everyone stays safe and dry!

Abey and Josh popped their heads up to get a close up view of the prairie dogs at the zoo.

This guy - or gal - amused me. Can't remember if it was a gorilla or an ape or a baboon.

Happy Days

We have had a hectic few days ever since we left Texas on Tuesday. Family members arrived in Michigan from far and wide all last week in anticipation of Laura's wedding. Yesterday's nuptials, originally scheduled to take place outdoors, had to be moved inside due to a passing thunderstorm. The couple's vows were punctuated by an extremely loud clap of thunder at a very appropriate time during the ceremony. Mother Nature works in strange and mysterious ways. We had a great time at the reception and were excited to have all but one of our clan in attendance. (We missed you, Kim!)

The newlyweds left for their honeymoon cruise this morning and the rest of us gathered at our condo for the family's August birthday celebration. The weather cooperated nicely today. We enjoyed temperatures in the upper 70s and a lovely brisk breeze. (So refreshing after enduring that scorching Houston heat the past few weeks.) Tomorrow people start heading back to their home states and by Thursday all should be back to work. Looking forward to the next family shindig.

A blurry family picture. I'm sure the official wedding photographer got some better shots!

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Laura and Rob cutting their awesome cake.

Grandma with (almost all of) her grandkids.

Jacob dancing with Samantha.

The five August birthday peeps.

Birthday Weekend

Jim celebrated his birthday on Friday. He had to work - and he said it was a very busy day at the office - but we did manage to get out to dinner in the evening. On Saturday, we were signed up for a boat tour of the Houston Shipping Channel. The 90-minute cruise was quite interesting. It was not overly informative, but was fun nevertheless. Since the whole area is government-owned and secure, we weren't allowed to take any pictures. On Sunday, we had some of Jim's work friends and their families over to the house. One guy is into brewing homemade beer and he brought along numerous samples, which we all enjoyed. The merriment will continue next weekend in Michigan when we have a party for all of the family members with August birthdays.

Jim received some yummy homemade beer as a gift.

Jake and I surprised Jim with some nifty presents.

The pool is as clear as it has ever been. The water temperature hovers between 88 and 93 degrees.

Six Months

What began as a delightful spring in Houston has turned into a downright unpleasant summer. Rainfall has been well below average and temperatures have been far above normal for a very long time. Here is my month-by-month synopsis of the past half year at our Texas house.

March - Temps were lovely, 60s and 70s. Neighbors turned on their air conditioners, even though it was absolutely perfect weather for opening windows.
April - Warmed up nicely. Pool water jumped into the 80s. Spent lots of time walking, biking, swimming, and working on the yard. Really enjoyed wearing shorts and flip-flops here while it was still below freezing in Michigan.
May - Weather really heated up. Highs in the 90s, humidity climbed. I perspired whenever I left the house, sometimes even inside the house. Became more and more intolerable for outdoor activities.
June - Temps were super hot. Felt sorry for anyone working outdoors in the sizzling heat. I don't know how they managed. Pool water soared to 90 degrees, but it still felt good compared to the 98 degree air.
July - Just sweltering outside. I broke out in a sweat every time I had to walk the few feet from one air conditioned venue to another. Wouldn't even consider making the grueling trek to the street to check the mailbox.
August - Unbelievably miserable. 100 degrees every stinking day. Why anyone chooses to live in this state is beyond me. Too hot to walk or bike ride without risking heat exhaustion. Seriously. Ugh.

Jacob, Jim, and I are all heading back up north soon for Laura's wedding. Summertime in Texas has certainly given me a new appreciation for midwestern weather. I am so used to stepping outside here and feeling as if I am walking into a blast furnace that anything below 90 degrees will seem cool. Remind me of that when I start whining about Michigan's heat and humidity next week.

The Best Man

Last month, Adam's U of M roommate, Mike, married Andrea, Adam's friend from elementary school. The bridal party consisted of all of Adam's pals, including one girl he first met when they were only 4-years-old. The childhood chums all became so close over the years that another parent and I referred to them as "the group." When Andrea first began dating Mike during their freshman year of college, he quickly melded with the posse and was welcomed with open arms. To make a long wedding story short, the big day was simply lovely, the kids (sorry, I mean the adults) all looked fantastic, and the whole idea that someone from "the group" was old enough to get married stirred up a lot of emotion among the parents. I mean, wasn't it just yesterday that we were helping them with spelling words and multiplication tables? Sigh - where does the time go?

The best man and the groom.

Adam escorted the two maids-of-honor after the ceremony.

Adam gave his best man speech at the reception.

The wedding party staged a fake-fighting pose for the photographer.

Travel Woes

Adam, Jacob, and I left Michigan on Tuesday afternoon to drive to Colorado. The traffic jams we encountered on the road were simply hideous, including a stretch in Illinois where it took us 55 long minutes to crawl five miles on I-80. We eventually stopped in York, Nebraska to find a place to stay for the night and were disappointed that every hotel at the exit was booked. We ended up at a dingy-looking Super 8 that had vacancy, and were pleasantly surprised that our room was actually quite nice. On Wednesday morning when we set out for the rest of our drive, we were dismayed to discover that the battery was dead in Adam's Jeep. After no one in the hotel lobby would agree to jump start the vehicle, I called AAA and used my road service for the very first time. The battery was so far gone that I had to keep my foot on the accelerator to keep the motor from dying. I drove two-footed - left foot on the brake and right foot revving the engine - out of the Super 8 lot and across a major highway to a Walmart where, fortunately, the mechanics were able to replace the battery in about 10 minutes. Whew. We arrived at Adam's apartment six hours later.

Jacob and I stayed in Colorado until Friday, when we were scheduled to fly to Houston. We carefully monitored Tropical Storm Don, which was due to hit the Texas coast Friday evening. Sure enough, we arrived at Denver's airport and found all the flights to Houston delayed. Luckily, the storm ended up striking far south of Houston and we arrived there only an hour late. Naturally, it is as hot as blazes here in the Lone Star state, but we are having a fun time running from the air-conditioned house to the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned stores. And we're doing lots of swimming to keep cool in the 100 degree heat. We still have an exceptional drought going down here, so a bit of rain would be welcome. But, please, no hurricanes for our poor, unprepared house.

Camping

Jim, Adam, Jacob, and I just returned home from our annual friends-and-family camping trip. We had a big crowd this year - 26 people in all. The weather was the warmest it has been in a long time, and the only rain that fell came in the form of a quick shower while everyone was sleeping on Saturday night. We had a blast frolicking on the beach, cooking over the campfire, playing frisbee, canoeing, walking, talking, eating, drinking, and telling anecdotes of past trips. (One of the more popular stories was of the time our group walked in a parade. Most of the twenty-somethings & younger had never heard about this rather embarrassing venture from long ago.) It was nice to welcome back Char this year, who has missed the "Bear" trip for the last decade or so due to work commitments. Hooray for her recent retirement! Unfortunately, there were also some very aggressive ground bees hanging around our campsite and 11 - yes, 11 - people were stung by the pesky critters. Luckily, the stings were minor and no one had a reaction - other than a few choice words for the annoying insects.

The group cavorted on a beautiful Lake Michigan beach.

Adam and Hollie tried to beat the heat.

Seven hardy souls started out on a grueling 4+ hour hike across the sand dunes. Three dropped out early. Four completed the trek.

Adam and Julia assessed the coastline.

Lots of digging and building took place at the lakeshore.

Upper Peninsula

Jim and Adam drove from Colorado to the U.P. last week to meet up with the rest of us. We visited our little cabin on Lake Superior, where - despite the fact that the black flies were out in full force & the water temperature was 55 bone-chilling degrees - we had a great time. We also toured the very interesting Quincy Copper Mine in nearby Hancock. After several days of eating pasties and roaming around the area, we headed back to the Lower Peninsula to prepare for the wedding of Adam's old roommate. Pictures of that event will follow soon.

Adam and Jacob built a sand neighborhood on our Lake Superior beach.

Jim had a unique way of keeping the pesky black flies off his head.

The boys posed at the beach.

The entrance to the Quincy Mine. We ventured in about a half mile.

Our mine guide showed us an old fault line that went through the wall.